Italian Mac And Cheese Muffins Recipes

EASY MAC AND CHEESE MUFFINS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, it should still be a little bit firm. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan; stir in the butter and egg until pasta is evenly coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese and stir the remaining Cheddar cheese, milk and mozzarella cheese into the pasta. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.
• Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.

AWESOME ITALIAN MACARONI AND CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
• Dissolve chicken bouillon cubes in water in a large pot; bring to a boil. Cook macaroni in the boiling water until cooked through but firm to the bite, 8 minutes; drain.
• Layer about half the macaroni in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with about half the diced smoked ham. Repeat layers.
• Whisk eggs, half-and-half, salt, and white pepper together in a bowl; pour over the noodle and ham layers. Top everything with Cheddar cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven until the cheese is melted and browning around the edges, about 35 minutes.

ITALIAN MAC-N-CHEESE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt water and cook pasta to a chewy al dente, about 8 minutes.
• In a nonstick skillet, brown and crumble the sausage. Drain cooked crumbles on paper towel lined plate. Return pan to heat and add extra-virgin olive oil, butter, garlic and mushrooms. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Saute 3 to 5 minutes, until mushrooms are lightly golden.
• Preheat broiler to high.
• To mushrooms, add flour and stir, cooking 2 minutes. Whisk in stock, then stir in cream. Bring cream to a bubble, then stir in 2 cups of 4 cheese blend. When cheese has melted into sauce, add tomatoes. When sauce comes to a bubble, remove from heat and adjust seasonings, adding hot sauce if desired.
• Combine cheese sauce with sausage and pasta, transfer to flameproof baking dish, casserole or flameproof serving platter. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of 4 cheese blend and the grated Parmesan over the top and brown under hot broiler.

ITALIAN MAC AND CHEESE MUFFINS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray. Cook macaroni as directed on package-except cook 2 minutes less time. Drain; place in large bowl.
• Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked. Drain; set aside.
• In microwavable bowl, microwave butter, milk and prepared cheese product on High about 5 minutes. Remove from microwave; stir with whisk until cheese begins to melt. Microwave on High in 1-minute increments, stirring after each minute, until cheese is completely melted and mixture is smooth.
• Add cheese mixture and ground beef to macaroni in bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Fill each muffin cup with macaroni mixture. Sprinkle bread crumbs and remaining shredded cheese over tops.
• Cover pan loosely with foil, making sure foil does not touch cheese. Bake 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven; remove foil. Cool at least 10 minutes before remove muffins from cups.

MAC AND CHEESE MUFFINS

Steps:

• Spray a 12-cup muffin tin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of bread crumbs into each muffin cup; set remaining bread crumbs aside. Gently shake pan to distribute the crumbs over the entire bottom and partially up the sides of each muffin cup.
• Cook macaroni in salted water; drain.
• While macaroni cooks, prepare cheese sauce. -- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in flour. Return to heat and gradually whisk in milk. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring. Boil gently for about one minute, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened.
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Add shredded cheese 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until cheese is fully melted and incorporated.
• Add cooked macaroni to cheese sauce; stir to coat macaroni thoroughly.
• Spoon about 1/2 cup macaroni and cheese mixture into each muffin tin cup, filling the cups completely. Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of remaining bread crumbs on the top of each mac & cheese muffin.
• Bake at 350℉ for 18-20 minutes until tops are lightly golden browned.
• Let stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen. Use a fork to lift muffins out of the pan and place on a serving plate.
• Muffin Tin Mac & Cheese can easily be prepared in advance, with a couple of options: 1) Fill muffin cups with mac & cheese mixture, cover and refrigerate overnight, and bake the next day when needed. Just increase the baking time by about 5-8 minutes to account for the muffins going into the oven cold. Or, 2) Finish the muffins through the final baking step, and then reheat. To reheat, pop the muffins back into a 350℉ for about 10 to 12 minutes.
• Or FREEZE the mac & cheese muffins to make them even more in advance. Fully bake the muffins and freeze them in an airtight container. At serving time, reheat frozen muffins at 350℉ for about 20 minutes or until heated through.
• When serving as a main part of the meal (like alongside a bowl of soup), plan on 2 mac & cheese muffins per serving. When served as a side dish as part of a larger meal, plan on 1 or 2 muffins per serving -- depending on your eaters, of course!